Skills Post- rewritten version of the "Compare and contrast" post

Today I'd like to compare and contrast two camps- Camp Big Apple and Ranch West Camp, in order to find the camp most suitable for me to learn English. In this skills post, I'll talk about some similarities and differences the camps have and which camp I think is best for me to enter.

Right now I will compare the programs the two camps concentrate on.Personally, I think Camp Big Apple is more suitable in this factor, because apparently, Camp Big Apple focuses on vocabulary and math, which lets me know that I can learn English well. On the other hand, Ranch West Camp doesn't exactly have a focused subject, and some of those subjects are totally out-of-topic.

Another difference is the housing situation. Camp Big Apple provides a dormitory system, which lets you meet people from all over the place. It would be a good experience, and a good chance to speak and learn English. However, Ranch West Camp provides a home-stay situation, which isn't bad, yes, but usually, kids my age feel more comfortable talking to people our age, and 4 weeks doesn't give you much time to get used to your home-stay parents. That is why for this factor, I decided that Camp Big Apple is better than Ranch West Camp.

Lastly, I will compare where the camps are located. Camp Big Apple is located in New York, which I think is a wonderful way to learn English. New York is a busy city, so there would be lots of people, and most of them would be speaking in English. On the other hand, Ranch West Camp is located in Canada, and because Canada has two languages(French and English), I chose Camp Big Apple over Ranch West Camp.

Considering those reasons above, I would like to conclude with the idea that Camp Big Apple is the camp most suitable for me to enter. Although there are other good and bad reasons to consider about both camps, I'll conclude that again, Camp Big Apple is my choice.

Thank you for reading my skills post. This was the re-written version of my very first skills post, and I hope you can feel that this skills post was better than the first skills post, because well, I spent some time trying to revise, edit, and proofread this post. Once again, thank you for reading my post.

Skills Post- Summarizing and Paraphrasing

Summarizing- "Shark Attacks"

When you are swimming in an open ocean, you could easily feel fear of being attacked by a shark. However, being attacked by a shark is possible, but very unrealistic, and the chances are very low. In fact, most of the time, even if the shark sees you, it won't attack you. Besides, the chance of being struck by lightning or getting drowned is higher than being attacked by a shark. If you are still scared of swimming in an open ocean because of sharks, though, try making sure of these things: swim in groups, and don't swim when you have a cut, because sharks have excellent sense of smell.

Paraphrasing- a paragraph in "Bear Attacks"

Original paragraph

In the Yellowstone National Park in the U.S., the statistics show that you are more likely to drown than be attacked by a bear. In the period between 1839 and 1994, 101 people died from drowning but only 5 people were killed by grizzly bears.

Summarized text

According to the data recorded in the Yellowstone National Park, there are more chances of you drowning than getting attacked by a bear. The data shows that 101 people died of drowning between 1839 and 1994, but only 5 people died of a grizzly bear attack during the same period.

Summarization #2- a random article, book, etc.

Original text

 Swearing and Foul Language

Hearing swear words coming from your child’s mouth can be upsetting. More astonishing may be that those first swear words your young child utters were learned on the home front.


It can be a shocking moment to hear your own, sweet, innocent child lacing her conversation with a few select swear words, especially if you were under the impression that this language couldn’t possibly be a part of her vocabulary. But as we know, children are like sponges, meaning they’ll pick up all sorts of phrases if they hear them, which is why so many children use their first swear word when they’re still very young.


Child Psychologist Dr. Joanne Briggs says “swearing and bad language usually comes before age six, and you either totally ignore it or say, ‘that’s not acceptable, we don’t talk that way.’


If your child does swear what should you do? Sometimes when a child is very young the temptation is to laugh – after all it can seem quite precocious. However, laughing will only encourage the use of foul language. On the other hand, punishment isn’t necessary either. Dr Briggs says you shouldn’t “make a big thing out of it. Just simply say ‘we don’t talk like that here’. But then parents must ensure that they don’t talk that way. Often parents lose sight of their own language and some of this is being modeled at home. The model is probably the most important.”


Of course young children parroting a parent is one thing. But older children who use foul language are well aware of the meaning of the words and the impact they have. So how do you deal with the older child who swears? Dr. Briggs believes that “if they’re older children, swearing and trying to shock, you should simply say “I don’t like that. I can’t do anything about how you talk away from me but when you’re with me I’d prefer you not to talk like that and if you have to talk like that, I’d prefer that you go someplace else to do it.”


So gone are the days of grounding or washing a child’s mouth out with soap. Instead you best insurance is to model good language on the home front, and to be clear about how you feel about inappropriate language with your child.

My summarized version:

It is very surprising to hear some swear words from your children's mouths, especially the first swear words. However, child psychologist Dr. Briggs says that children pick up bad words easily and that it is only you to blame when your children says bad words, because that is where they picked up those words from. Now, what can you do when your children swears? Just laugh? Punish them? No! That isn't what Dr. Briggs thinks. Laughing will only encourage the kid to swear, and you shouldn't punish your children for something they don't even know what they did wrong. Speaking of young children, because they know little, you should try to talk to them nicely, and tell them not to say those words. When it comes to older children, though, you could go a little stricter- but punishing is still not the best idea. So, those are the suggestions from Dr. Briggs- the days of washing your child's mouth with soap are long gone!

Resources: http://www.theparentreport.com/articles/swearing-and-foul-language.html
                                 

Fun Post- Feel Funny

Are you feeling a little bit upset today? Well, it was a great idea for you to read this post, because today I'm planning to post some comics on my fun post, some "Christmas" comics specifically. I hope it makes you to laugh your head off...







I hope you enjoyed the comics... find more in www.google.com because that's where I found it!

Thank you for reading... and again, FEEL FUNNY!!

What the world eats

Many people reading this post would be wealthy enough to fill up their tummies during meals. In this post, I'd like to compare two different families and tell you this: while some people are full, others are hungry. Again, I'd like to compare two families, and the picture below are the two families I'm going to compare.

 

 

 

You could easily see that on the first picture, there are several hungry looking kids and their parents behind about two sacks filled with flour, peas, and other materials. Tell you this: this family uses about $1 every week for all three meals.  Compared to that, the second picture shows a wealthy looking family behind a whole table stacked with food, food, and more food. This family uses $500 every week for the three meals. Can you see the difference? While some people are spending every day hungrily with only $1 for the whole week, other families are wealthy enough to spend and waste money on not just meals but other stuff. While one part of the world has families hungry, the other side has families that are full.

 

I hope that many of you learned that while you guys are staying lazy and feeling full, on the other side, people die of hungriness. So even if you aren't able to actually help them, please think about the other families and try not to waste your food. People live on the amount of food you leave on your plates! So if you really understand how families are living on the other side of the world, try to thank your parents for letting you live wealthily, and do not waste.

 

Source I used: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519,00.html

Chain Writing

Long, long ago, there was an alien named Bob, who was curious all the time. One day, Bob just absent-mindedly wondered- why shouldn't I just move out of my boring planet and travel to other places? So he built a ship and traveled around. One day he found a place called Earth, and met "Earth Aliens", called "human"s.
"This looks like a great place to live!" Bob said to himself, and controlled his ship to land in a playground on Earth. Both the alien and the children playing in the playground were surprised to see each other. 'What a funny looking kid', the kids thought, while Bob thought, 'What a funny looking kid,".
Gathering up his courage, Bob said "Duca duca," which was supposed to mean "I want to be your friend". However, no kid there understood what Bob said, except for one kid, called Jack, who had an alien friend named Ted. Soon, Bob and Jack became friends, because Jack said "Acucka Ducka," which meant "Sure, lets me friends" in alien language.
10 years past, and Jack and Bob became adults. Bob returned to his planet and Jack decided to live with Bob, which made them best friends forever.




* This is a chain writing done around our class.

Fun post- have confidence!

Have you ever wondered what others think of you? Me myself wondered this many times, especially when I'm entering a contest, a competition, you name it. Well, right now all I want to say is to tell you to have confidence. You are the awesomest when you get the attention, and to you, you yourself is the most important. Be confident, and don't try to feel suspicious about anyone, because they, too, are the awesomest to them.
I'm sorry that this fun post is very short, but I hope that it had a lot of meanings in it that shows loads of important things. I'll end this post like this, and again, I hope you learned lots from this post and that you started to have confidence.

My very first Fun Post

Have you ever seen a beggar before? Well, if you did, answer me this: did you give him or her money? Many people I know said no to this, because of their parents, they are busy, and many other reasons. A lot of people just ignore beggars, or worse, say bad things about them. However, it isn't exactly their fault that they are beggars. True, they might've not studied or tried, but they could've been born in a beggar's family. What I'm trying to say in this fun post is that we should help people more often. Isn't helping each other the main rule we should keep as a human being?
Say that you saw a dog and a cat lying down like that on the street, "begging" for whatever they want to beg for. You'd probably just laugh, take pictures and all that rather than think what they really are trying to tell. True, they would really just be taking the form of a beggar while sleeping, but I think that this picture let me think and understand many things, and I'm hoping that not just me but many other people will get the message straight and try to help people more often.